Housing starts were at 1.61 million in December, the highest level since 2006, the Commerce Department said. That was up 17% from a revised 1.38 million in November and up 41% from December 2018,
Separately, in a speech, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman pointed out that the ratio of job vacancies to unemployment in private construction has been down significantly from the ratio during the early-2000s real estate boom.
“These indicators confirm what I have been hearing from construction-industry employers during my visits to different parts of the country—it’s extremely difficult to find and hire workers, skilled or otherwise," Bowman said in a speech.